Finding You, Finding Me
by MizukoMidori
Summary: Katie hates 'The World' and just about anything to do with it. One day her mom comes home with the game. Out of curiousity she plays it and gets sucked into the addicting world of 'The World'Up in the air


**Finding You, Finding Me**

**By Rachel**

**Chapter One—It's just a game**

The World. It was such a simple name, lame almost. I mean, 'The World'? You're telling me that CC Corporation couldn't come up with something more creative than that! I could come up with something more original than 'The World'. Come on, for such a desired RPG it has the stupidest title. Maybe that should try something like, 'Fantasia' it sounds cooler.

It almost makes me want to cry how popular this game has become. I know kids who aren't even gamers who are into this thing. People from ages four to sixty play it. It gets little blurbs on the news every now and then. It's a stupid MMORPG, or Mass-Multiplayer-Online-Roleplaying-Game, if you will. It's supposedly the epitome of RPG's.

I always hear people at school talking about their latest adventure, or newest items. Okay, I'm sixteen, the only people who should still play those kinds of games are the nerds. Granted I indulged in a role-playing game every now and then, but mostly for a solo game console system. But _everyone_ plays this game. I don't understand it, and it drives me crazy. Even my friend Andy, bought it. Although she tries not to talk about it around me because I'll go off on how it's just a stupid game.

So you can imagine my utter disbelief when my mother came home from work one afternoon, calling out "Katie, I have a surprise for you," and then handed me a nice shiny box with the words "The World" inscribed on the front in that kind of bumpy way that sticks out from the box. I like the feeling of that texture, but the _game!_ Why, oh why would she get me the game! Had she not heard me complaining about it all the time.

I asked her this, I said, "Mom. Have you not heard me whining about this stupid game?"

All she replied was, "Well it's just that everyone seems to have it. Eric at work has been playing it almost non-stop. He mentioned that it's a lot of fun and very interactive and that you might be interested in it. It was on-sale at the video store so I thought, why not?"

Why not? Of course, it's on sale, why not? _Everyone_ has it, why not? Eric likes it, why the hell not? Because I want nothing to do with it, that's why. When I told her that, she just said that "maybe I'll play it then." Okay mom, you do that. Have fun, get addicted, just like every other person on this Goddamn planet. For crying out loud!

After staring at the box in murderous hate for a while I picked it up and read the back of it. There was just a lousy description about 'getting lost in a fantasy beyond your wildest imagination' and how 'in The World you can create your own custom character and live your dreams'. Below it was a bunch of reviews it had gotten like, "#1 GAME IN THE WORLD!" I threw it at the foot of my bed.

It remained there still unfortunately, because I thought it might walk away and leave me in peace, when I finished my homework. I glared at it. As messed up as it sounds the game just would not leave me alone. If I didn't know any better I would say it was taunting me. But I knew better, games don't taunt people. That's just people letting themselves get carried away. _I_ was not letting myself get carried away.

Still… it was just sitting there, on my bed, in its nice shiny box with the cool textured lettering. Picking it up again I ran my fingers over that lettering—T-H-E W-O-R-L-D—lame as it was. Okay! So curiosity got the better of me. I opened it, careful not to ruin the box. I hate ruining cool things, like I save a lot of wrapping paper that I like. I have a wall decorated with it.

Dumping out the contents onto my bed I stared at them for little while. _You won't own me_ I told it, _I'm not like everyone else._ With a satisfied smile I picked up the visor and turned it over in my hands. It wasn't as bulky as I thought it would be. I guess it was the latest model or something. Attached to it, was a microphone, probably so you could talk to people. That was kind of cool, I guess; less typing. Setting that down, I picked up a controller. So it wasn't keyboard based. I kind of liked that aspect. It would make it seem more like my solo console games. It was very similar to the console controller too. Three buttons on the right side—X, A, B— and a joystick for movement on the left.

The other two objects in the box were the obligatory booklet, and the installation disc. The disc was decorated with a picture of a shimmery circular object. It looked like a portal of some sort. The front of the book was just some cool looking scenery I figured was a landscape in the game. It looked like a a thriving city.

I picked up the book flipping through it. Getting Started, Creating Your Own Character, Classes, Servers, Game Play Basics, Rules and Guidelines, Illegal Actions, Regarding PK-ing, Warranty. Those were the different sections. It was a fairly thick book compared to the one I was used to. I didn't plan on reading it, I really didn't. I planned on putting everything back in the box and leaving it on my desk for no more further use. But that's not what I did. What I did was prop up my pillow, lean back against it, open the manual, and start reading it. I will never understand why I did that, nor does it matter really.

In my mind I told myself that it was still just a lame RPG that got more credit than it was worth. It would get old eventually, right? Of course. But you have no idea what this game can do to people. And when I first got it, neither did I.

**End Chapter 1**

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_A/N: Okay. I don't know what possessed me to write this. I was surfing fanfiction. Net looking for some good .hack fiction to read and this suddenly popped into my head and the muses demand I start it immediately before I lost the creativity. This is what came out. _

_I don't know where I'm going with it, what's going to happen, or even if I'll actually continue with it. I've never been a really BIG .hack fan, although it does interest me greatly. My recent interest has been from listening to the music. I don't know all that much about the .hack universe. I've seen a good portion of the anime .hack/SIGN, I've read the manga, and I've watched my friend play very little of the game. Although I plan on borrowing the games, and maybe hoping another friend had the series. Then I could continue this and would be more inclined to. –Shrug—_

_If anyone's interested in me continuing it, leave me a review and let me know. It'll give me more motivation to do so._


End file.
